NZ News Top Stories

Tattooist excused during victim's evidence

A tattooist charged with sex and violence offences has been excused from hearing an alleged victim's claims after his lawyer indicated he found them distressing.

Justice Matthew Palmer QC let Jamie Dean Keremete leave the court. His trial's underway in the High Court at Rotorua where he faces 22 charges involving two complainants.

The second of his alleged victims described how she felt she was being held prisoner in a Taupo cottage by an enraged Keremete .

She said she met him when she approached him about being tattooed, they began socialising, he was ''normal'' and she'd agreed to have sex with him.

However his mood soon switched to being jealous, possessive and controlling accusing her of wanting to sleep with his friends.

She described him flying into a rage, throwing her into his car, while pulling her by the hair. She screamed but no one from the cottage came to help.

Back inside she tried to escape but he threw her on a bed, ripping her clothes off.

She described him forcing himself on to her sexually despite her protests.

She told prosecutor Andy Hill when Keremete moved to a unit on his sister's Rotorua property she felt compelled to go too because he threatened to hurt her children and burn her family's house down if she didn't.

The woman outlined a series of violent attacks she claimed Keremete inflicted on her, including threatening to cut her head off with a sword. When his sister saw what was going on Keremete claimed he was showing her how to swing it. "I feared for my life," she testified.

She claimed she was subjected to regular vicious sexual encounters including being bitten on her breasts, genitals and her jugular.

Once when she began bleeding he ordered her to clean herself up then continued to violate her. "He was in a frenzy, he wouldn't stop, me saying no seemed to make him more excited.''

When they visited Reporoa, Keremete told her he'd drive them both into the Waikato River if she left him.

She said she'd been unable to leave the unit because Keremete took her car keys from her, he'd also confiscated her phone.